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"What is the purpose of the leather/vinyl treatment?" In your case, the purpose may well be to preserve the object just as it is. For others, the purpose might be to rejuvenate the leather to be more supple. For that, the products needed might be quite different.

Here is my process and goal when refinishing automotive leather. It is simple: Clean, Feed, Finish

In detail, and this is rather long...

Cleaning and maintaining your classic car's original leather seats and upholstery,
even if it's not in perfect condition, is a point of pride for many owners.

Leather Cleaning:

Carefully clean the surface of the leather without flexing it too much.
Old leather is dry and cracks easily. This is because the natural oils and
fats have evaporated from the leather fibers. (Okay, at least the volitle
components of the natural oils and fats have evaporated.) When the fibers
break, cracks form -- then tears. Also, Connolley leather is not vat-dyed.
Rather, it is 'painted' with lacquer. That is why the leather in (older)
British cars feels hard, shines and shows surface mars so easily. The surface
is all that you see and all that you can get to. The inside of the leather is
unreachable! It is sealed by the lacquer and never gets any of the treatments
that we lavish upon it.

Saturate the leather with a high-colligan leather treatment to rehydrate
and strengthen the fibers. This does not get to the inner fibers (for the
reason described above) but it DOES get into the fibers in the cracks where the
leather is already damaged. The goal here is to minimize the potential for
damage while further treating the leather. I use Leatherique's Rejouvinator
Oil. (No commencial interest in the product or company.) Avoid, like the
plague, any treatment containing silocone.

Strip the old lacquer off of the leather with small amounts of lacquer
thinner. This is a violent process so you see the need to feed the distressed
leather first. Use lots of paper towls to wipe away all traces of lacquer as
this stuff is the seal that has prevented you from feeding the leather all
along. Allow to dry for a day (or a few hours). Re-examine the leather for
traces of the old lacquer. They will be obvious once the leather is dry. Spot
clean, as needed, and allow to dry again. At this stage, the leather is 'open'
and easily damaged as the lacquer thinner has stripped away some of the oils
from the surface of the leather, especially from where the lacquer was still
impermeable. Handle with care avoiding excessive flexing.

Leather Feeding:

Saturate the leather with Rejouvinator Oil. If the weather is hot, it
also helps to cover the applied area with plastic wrap to keep the fats from
evaporating too quickly (allowing more to be absorbed into the leather fibers).
I do this process multiple times over two or three days. You will notice with
even after the first application that the leather is MUCH softer. That is
because the fibers are flexing easily and not breaking! Continue this process
until you are satisfied that the leather has absorbed all the fats that it can
absorb. I just can't put into print how much of an change this makes in the
leather. Old boots versus new driving gloves perhaps?

Clean the surface of the leather with a very light washing with soap and
water. The goal here is to remove any fats that are on the surface, not to
clean the leather. This is the 'prep' stage to refinishing.

Leather Finishing:

In any project, it is hard to cover dark colors with light colors but it
can be done. It just takes more time and more coats. The leather will be
'funky' looking now as it has no finish on it but does have lots of staining
from bits of the original lacquer soaking into the leather. Do not dispair.

I use Leatherique's dye to finish the leather. It is NOT a dye but rather
a surface finish not unlike what Connolley used -- except that this new product
is water based. It smells like latex paint and I would be surprised if it
didn't have a latex base. It can be brushed on, rubbed on or sprayed. I
always spray it. It is NOT like anything painters are used to as it is water
based and dries VERY slowly compared to solvent based paint. If you put it on
like regular paint it will all run to the bottom like Windex on a window. The
first few coats need to be applied just as a mist or a dusting and allowed to
dry for some time. Subsequent coats adhere better as some of the moisture in
the finish is absorbed into the underlying finish. Again, very thin coats are
needed. I typically will use 10-15 coats with the final coat just thick (wet)
enough for an even surface appearance. Allow the final job to dry for a day
or two. Please don't rush this step. The finish has to cure.

At this point, the surface is pretty much resealed making it really
important that you took all that time to get the underlying leather in top
shape before finishing. How long did the original finish last? Quite a
while. With 'healthy' leather underneith, this finish will last a long time
also -- and look great.

I have pictures along the way on various seats, panels, etc., from the
Ferraris that I have restored. I also have used the Rejouvinator Oil on my BMW
M3 but as the seats are black, redying has not been needed. This is also my
daily driver and the goal has not been to make 'new looking' seats, just soft
seats that are not being damaged by daily use. Anyone wanting to see some of
these pictures, e-mail me privately.

Again, I have no interest in Leatherique but I do use their products
exclusively now. I hope these comments, however long, have helped some of you.

Best regards, Rick

[Ed Note: LEXOL is also a highly recommended product, and can be found at many horse & rider supply stores.]

_

Photo courtesy Paul Wilson and used under the terms of of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Comments on "Leather Care for Classic Cars"

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Way back when my Healey 3000 was new, I preserved the leather surfaces of the seats with Neatsfoot Oil with very satisfactory results. Applied several times a year the seats were near new ten+ years later when car was sold. Condition, in spite of sun and occasional rain, was great. Smells some when first applied however I prefer the sent to LEXOL.

Hi Paul. I wrote that article about 7 years http://www.aubard.us/Ferrari/Interior/go but its still
true and I still use Leatherique's products. Rejuvinator Oil is now just called Rejuvinator
because of the possibly negative image of the word 'oil', but the product is the same. Only
words I might change in the article pertain to the final clean before refinishing. I now use
Leatherique's Pristine Clean instead of soap and water. Its hard to control how much water
enters the leather, so I now avoid it.

A few unsorted pictures, as per your request: www.aubard.us/Ferrari and www.aubard.us/
Interior .

Rick, How are you? I have a question about interior preservation. I have a 65 E Type. Unrestored. 95% original. The seats are original as well. They are maroon. Are dry, cracked, and have some tears. They have the moquette backing. I actually found an original black set from someone who took off for a restoration. But I was hoping to keep the original. All of my local upholstery folks say they are gone and want to put new. Do you think this product could help save them? I was thinking of sewing up the seams myself & patching the leather. Or maybe replacing with the black & trying to dye maroon. I can send you some pictures of you would like to see. Im trying to preserve and drive this car as it is just too nice and original to restore. Thanks,Ted Warren

Ted, I'm saving an XK8's seat right now. It sounds to be about like your E-Type seat. First thought is to use panels from the black upholstery to repair your maroon seats, then redye everything maroon. Let's talk further. rolindsay at yahoo dot com.

X2 on the Leatherique conditioner, but, I use there "Pristine Clean" to clean off the conditioner generally after a day or two of sitting. The conditioner can be sticky will is is doing it's thing and the cleaner helps to restore the right finish. It will continue to condition for severall weeks after initial application.

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